brooks



(No Model) Sheet s-Sheet 1.

E. J. BROOKS.

SEAL PRESS.

No. 298,284. Patented Maya, 1884.

WITNESSES. mvz'm'on.

I {M v I 22204. "i ffi oisy /M.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

E..J. BROOKS...

SEAL PRESS.

-No. 298,284. Patented May 6,1884.

INVENTOR.

2626027; fjr g gy Ji /M.

WITNESSES.

' UNITED "STATES PATENT .OFFICE.

EDWARD J. BROOKS, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO E. J.

Y BROOKS 8t 00., OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SEAL-PRESS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 29!.284, dated May 6, 1884.

Application filed October-i9, 181- 3. (No model.) I

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I,'EDWARD J. BROOKS, a

. citizen of the United States, residing at East Orange, in the State of "New Jersey, have in- 5 vented a new and useful Improvement in Scal- Iresses, of which the following is aspecification.

A serious trouble to makers and users of seals as means for securing the doors of railway freight-cars and the like has heretofore existed in the allowances necessary to be made forimperfect work on the part of sealers,

due to carelessness, collusion with thieves, or

a disposition to favor other fastenings. Do-

vicesto facilitate perfect work in the construction of seals and of seal-presses have been multiplied.

The object of the present invention is to so constructor so furnish a seal-press as to com- 2o pel the user thereof to press every seal to the required extent, and thus produce uniform impressions and perfected fastenings.

This invention consists, first, in the combination of a pawl-and-ratchet device, for insuring complete movements, with the means for applying power to the die or dies of a sealpress of any description, for pressing lead seals,

tin-strip seals, paper seals, wax seals, or seals of any other description fastened and provided with distinguishing marks by pressing or stamping.

' The invention consists, further, in apeculiar combination of a pawl and ratchet with the other parts of anew-st ylc seal-press of distinctive shape designed for their reception,

and'in a novel device for applying and diseugaging the detent-pawl, as hereinafter set forth.

Two sheets of drawings accompany this specification as part thereof.

Figure 1 of these drawings is a side view, and Fig. 2 an edge view,of said new-style scalpress closed as it is when carried in the hand. Fig. 3 represents a longitudinal sect-ion thereof on the line 3 3, Fig. 2, showing the press in full lines open, as for the reception of a seal to be pressed, and in dotted lines closed, as at the completion of a pressing operation. Fig. 4 represents an edge view of' the open press, partly in section onthc line t 4, Fig. 3. Fig.

-5o 5 represents a cross-section on the line 5 5,

My said new-style seal-press is composed of parts as follows, viz: first, a main casting comprisingarccessed cylindrical head, ll,

and a flattened neck, a, and a rigid handle, h, substantially in line therewith; second, a lever-handle casting comprising a second handle or lever, l, and a combined cam, c, and ratchet-sector rs, the latter fitted in thickness to and pivoted by a transverse pin, .11, within a recess in the back of said neck n,coinmunicating with that of the head ll; third, a stationary die, 8d, supported face inward at the outer extremity of the head 11 by means of a concentric plug, 1;, Figs. 3 and 4; fourth, a hollow movable die,md,extendinglongitudinally from the mouth m of said head ll to the cam within said neck-recess, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4; fifth, a spiral retracting-spring, s, Figs. 4 and 5, within said movable -die m(l,'reacting between a plug, d1), at the rear end of the die, and a pin, doc, extending through slotsin said die near its front end; sixth, a spring detentpawl, sp, Figs. 3, 4, and 7, secured on its outer end by ascrew or rivet, r,withii1 the outer end of said neck-recess, and adapted normally to engage at its inner extremity with the teeth of said ratchet-sector rs, as shown in full lines in Fig. 3; seventh, a disengaging-s1idc, d8, Figs. 3, 4, and (i, fitted to oblique ways out in the sides of said neck-recess, and crossing near their inner extremity the normal plane of said spring-pawl eighth, a pair of tappets, clt st, carried by said hand-lever easting, in the form of stud-pins cast fast therein and adapted to enact with said slide ds; and, ninth, a pair of cutters, Z0 ho, embedded, re-

spectively, in the lever of said lever-casting and the head of said main casting.

The several parts with their appurtenances may be made of an y suitable metals, and may be modified as to shape and proportions and other mechanical detailsto suit different users. Said mouth in in said main casting is adapted in the example to admit the disks of lead-andwire or lend-and-tin seals, a relatively small aperture, a,'Figs. 2 and 3, in the back of the 7 peculiar distinctive shape of the new-stylehead If acconunodating the protruding shackle ends. By modifying this feature and the dies as required, the said new-style press may be adapted to press seals of other varieties, or the pawland-ratchet feature as herein set forth may be embodied in seal-presses of other forms.

The operation of the said new-style press as illustrated by Fig. 3 may be described as follows: Graspcd by the handle h, the open press, as shown in full lines, is applied to the seal to be pressed, the seal-disk being readily located within the mouth m between the faces of the dies sdmd. The leverl is then operated by the free hand of the sealer, and the cam c is thus caused to act on the inner end of the movable die md, sliding it forcibly outward, and pressing the seal-disk against the stationary die 8d. As soon as the lever has moved far enough to tighten the dies on the seal-disk, the spring pawl 8p, coacting with the ratchet-sector rs, precludes backward movement of the lever, and if the seal-disk be compressed to any degree whatever by the dies its withdrawal is prevented until the pressing operation is thoroughly completed. As the movable die reaches the limit of its movement the disengaging-tappet d! on the leverl, coming incontact with the disengaging-slide d8 at the inner end of its deep notch, causes said slide to partake of the further motion of the lever. The disengaging-slide now moves inward into contact with the spring-pawl sp, and disengages the latter from the teeth of the ratchet-sector rs, permitting the motion of the lever l to be reversed, but not until the seal is perfected by fully closing the press, as represented by dotted lines in Fig. 3. Consequently each seal must be fully pressed, if pressed at all. Failure to press at all would of course be detected by the most cursory inspection, and the use of a different press would be detected, owing to'the press, which is preferred for this reason.

In opening the press to release the pressed seal and preparatory to another sealing operation, the tappet st, projecting from the ratchct-sector m, is brought into contact with the inner end of the disengaging-slide ds, and,

I forcing the slide outward, allows the springpawl 81) to resume its normal plane and its coaction with the ratchet-sector for insuring the completion of the next pressing movement, 7

and sets the slide for the succeeding disengagr ing operation. The movable dientd-itself is forced back by the springs withimit, compressed in the pressing operation, and the parts-may be so proportioned that this spring shall open the lever lwhen the latter is'simply released at the end of'the pressing o By forcibly opening the press, a sea shackle caught between the cutters he 10 may he reads.

ration.

ily severed, and the sealpress may thus used in customary manner in unsealing pressing or stamping their seals. The combination and arrangement of said cutters, being substantially the same as that described in Letters Patent No. 235,398, granted December 14, 1880, to E. J. Brooks 8: 00., as assignee of Frederic Anthes, is hereby disclaimed in favor of the latter.

Having thus described my said improvementin seal-presses, I claim as my invention and desire to patent under this specification-- 1. In a seal-press, the combination, substantially as herein specified, of a lever-handle, a movable die or dies actuated thereby, and a pawl-and-ratchet device which prevents retracting said die or dies atterapressing operation is begun until the same is completed, as means for insuring uniform impressions and perfected fastenings in pressed seals, in the manner set forth.

- 2. The combination in aseal-press, substau tially as herein described, of a main casting comprising a recessed head, H, a rec neck, a, and a rigid handle, h, the former provided with a pair of dies, a lever-handle castcars Land the like, as well as for sealing them, or

ing comprisinga lever-handle, Z, and a comforth..

EDWARD J. BROOKS.

Witnesses: i

THOMAS TIERNEY,

H. LE 0. WEN'rs. 

